Rolling Stone apologizes over account of UVA gang rape

Article here. Excerpt:

'Rolling Stone magazine apologized to readers Friday for discrepancies in an article about an alleged gang rape at a University of Virginia fraternity house, with the publication's editors saying their trust in the woman who gave the account "was misplaced."

Rolling Stone editors made the choice not to contact the man who allegedly "orchestrated the attack on "Jackie" (the woman who was the subject of the article) nor any of the men she claimed participated in the attack for fear of retaliation against her," a decision the magazine says it now regrets.

"In the face of new information, there now appear to be discrepancies in Jackie's account, and we have come to the conclusion that our trust in her was misplaced," Rolling Stone said.
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According to the magazine, Jackie, who at the time had just started her freshman year at the Charlottesville school, claimed she was raped by seven men at Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, while two more gave encouragement, during a party.

However, the University of Virginia's Phi Kappa Psi chapter did not have a party the night of September 28, 2012, the date when the alleged attack occurred, or at all that weekend, the chapter said in a statement Friday. The chapter's lawyer, Ben Warthen, told CNN email and fraternity records are proof.
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Warthen said there were other discrepancies in the accuser's account. For example, the accused orchestrator of the alleged rape did not belong to the fraternity, the fraternity house has no side staircase, and there were no pledges at that time of year.

Jackie told the magazine she hurried out a side staircase after the incident and said her attackers egged each other on, asking, "Don't you want to be a brother?"
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"They're threading this whole thing through one voice," Wemple told CNN on Friday. "This is what we call journalistic malpractice. ... It's really outrageous that Rolling Stone would have done this."

Catherine Valentine, a student reporter at WUVA, said the article emboldened women to come forward with stories of sexual assault, and that may stop following the magazine's apology.

"I'm worried that girls are not going to report now out of fear of being called liars," Valentine told CNN.'

Also see: Rolling Stone's UVA Gang Rape Story Begins To Unravel